Nationality American NBA draft 1949 / Round: 2 Height 1.78 m Pro career 1949–1951 Weight 79 kg | Listed weight 175 lb (79 kg) Name Ralph Beard Position Guard Role Basketball player | |
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Born December 2, 1927Hardinsburg, Kentucky ( 1927-12-02 ) | ||
Listed height 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | ||
Ralph Beard
Ralph Milton Beard Jr. (December 2, 1927 – November 29, 2007) was an American collegiate and professional basketball player.
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Biography
Beard was born in Hardinsburg, Kentucky. He was a member of Adolph Rupp's "Fabulous Five" University of Kentucky basketball team, with Alex Groza, Wallace Jones, Cliff Barker, and Kenny Rollins. Beard won a gold medal in the 1948 Summer Olympics with the Fabulous Five and the Phillips 66ers.
Taken in the second round of the 1949 NBA draft, Beard played two seasons with the Indianapolis Olympians and averaged 15.9 points and 4.4 assists per game.
Following the 1951 season, Beard and teammate Alex Groza were banned from the NBA for life by then-commissioner Maurice Podoloff after the players admitted to point shaving during their college careers. This scandal was the CCNY point shaving scandal Beard died at his Louisville, Kentucky home in 2007.
